On Validity and Invalidity of Sacraments

Abstract

THIS ARTICLE had its genesis, more or less, in an after-dinner conversation with a theologian who remarked, as we were talking about sacraments and priesthood, that the notion of belonged in my discipline of law rather than his discipline of theology. His doctrine is very much concerned with sacraments as celebrations, and so he is less apt to ask whether they are valid than how well they come off. On his understanding, talk about validity or invalidity of a sacrament is no more useful than talk about validity or invalidity of a birthday party. His impatience with traditional notions of validity is shared by many ecumenical-minded people who see invalidity as a pejorative term and are unwilling to apply it to the ministrations of those Protestant bodies that lack priests ordained in the traditional fashion but seem to be living in Christ's presence at least as fully as a typical group of Catholics or Orthodox. These problems with the notion of validity of sacraments are, in fact, very similar to some of the problems we have with the notion of validity of legal transactions. If it seems unacceptable to consign a child to hell (or even limbo) because the priest used the wrong formula in baptizing him, it seems analogously unacceptable to put a family out of their home because their title deed is not sealed in the proper way. My friend's dismissal of validity as a mere legal concept is, of course, not to be taken seriously. Many legal concepts, including this one, have gained a secure place in theology. But if a legal concept is to be used in theology, perhaps our experience of it as a legal concept can shed some light on its theological function. It is with this possibility in mind that I shall try here to see what contribution legal analysis can make to a theological understanding of the validity of sacraments. I am encouraged in the attempt by the fact that the sacraments seem to resemble legal transactions in a number of ways. Just as the sacraments pick up and sanctify events out of everyday life (e.g., the Eucharist as a common meal), or events out of salvation history (e.g., baptism as a passing through the Red Sea), so they pick up and sanctify common juridical forms. Baptism and confirmation correspond to forms such as naturalization by which people are received into a community. Ordination is like inauguration or swearing in, the entry into an office or a position. Marriage is like the secular or pagan transaction of the same form. The correspondence between the sacrament of penance and a judicial trial